US2689575A

US2689575A - Wigmaking machine

Info

Publication number: US2689575A
Application number: US273634A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerbaud Henri
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1952-02-27
Filing date: 1952-02-27
Publication date: 1954-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 1971-09-21

Description

Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAL JD WIGMAKING MACHINE Filed Feb. 2'7, 1952 a T w w Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAUD WIGMAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1952 INVEITQR Sept. 21, 1954 H. GERBAUD WIGMAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 27, 1952' fit wz/ $70400, I N V EN TOR.

Patented Sept. 21, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WIGMAKING MACHINE Henri Gerbaud, New York, N. Y.

Application February 27, 1952, Serial No. 273,634

8 Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine for the makin of wigs.

The principal object of this invention is to pro-. vide a novel and improved wig-making machine holding a supply or bunch of hairs or hair-like filaments into which a plurality or just one reciprocating hook-needle enters after having pierced the wig foundation member from the underside of the latter and lies therethroug-h in the hole it has made. Said hook-needle then draws one or more hairs from the supply bunch and pulls same a comparatively short distance through said foundation member to imbed the hair through the hole it has made, and particularly to provide means for automatically removing the worked hair completely from the supply bunch before the hook-needle makes its next "stitch in order to avoid tangling and the occurrence of more than one Working of any hair once so embedded as well as to obviate the necessity to separate the hairs of the completed wig.

Another object hereof is to provide a novel and improved machine. of the character described, for making a head of hair on a. dolls head which is a hollow shell of a material capable of being pierced by a needle.

A further object hereof is to make such improved machine by providing attachments to available machinery.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved wig-making machine of the nature set forth, which requires no manual operation to remove worked hair from the supply bunch, which is easy to operate and efficient in carrying out the purposes for which it is designed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosure proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, similar characters of reference indicate correspondin parts in all the views.

Fig. 1 shows the front view of a machine embodying the teachings of this invention. A needle-pierceable shell in the form of a dolls head, is shown in position on the machine, ready to be given" a head of hair, as will be explained.

Fig. 2 is a section taken at lines 2-2 in Fig. 1. This view is substantially a side elevation of this machine as seen from the left in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 through 6 are diagrammatic and show successive stages of operation during one cycle of movement of the hook-needle.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the component included in the machine shown in Fig. 1, whose function it is to remove entirely from the hair 2 supply bunch, those hairs engaged by the hookneedle which pulls them only part way.

Fig. 8 is diagrammatic and shows as will be explained, that said part illustrated in Fig. 7, really operates as a moving hook which in its movement, pulls the worked hair from the supply bunch. This view shows only a fragment of said mentioned part.

Fig. 9 shows a modified form of structure to take the place of the part shown in Fig. 7. The view here shown is diagrammatic, in the sense that it shows only relative position of several elements. lJ-he showing here is in perspective.

Fig. 10 is a view similar to Fig. 9, showing another modified structure for the same purpose.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of the work rest and the pressure foot for holding the work thereon, which are included in the embodiment illustrated.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a plurality of simultaneously operating needles pierced through a portion of the shell of a dolls head.

In the drawings, to illustrate the practice of this invention, I have taken a sewing machine commonly used in the luggage industry and have made attachments thereto. I do not use the machine to sew, and for the purpose I need, I use a hook needle [5, which in the machine 16 chosen, extends upwardly from the rec-iprocable needle bar I! mounted for such movement on the arm I8. The main shaft of this known machine, is denoted by the numeral I9. I have extended this shaft outward of the machine frame It and have mounted a gear 2!! on said shaft. The machine chosen includes known mechanism to impart needle movement and to feed the work to next stitch. In fact in the said machine such Work-feed functions by means driven by the main shaft to swing the arm I 8 a predetermined bit during a prescribed phase of the cycle of movement of the needle bar H. For my purpose, any other work-feeding means may be employed as is well known in the sewing machine art. The work '22 is on a fixed work rest bar 2| which is provided with a suitable slot 23 to permit the required needle movements. The work in wig making, may be any sheet material used for wig foundations in which hair is implanted, or as illustrated herein, may be a hollow shell forming a dolls head made of needle-pierceable material as for instance a soft rubber-like plastic. Initially,,of course, said head 22 is bare, and as will now be set forth, will be given a "head of hair.

I have provided an elongated tray 24 with out ward longitudinal flanges 24, so that it can be slid onto and be removably positioned on its fixed holding-bracket 25 which has the opposite grooves 25 to receive such flanges of the tray. The said tray is filled with a supply of straight, loose, separate hairs 26 laid longitudinally therein; the length of said hairs being very slightly less than the inside length of said tray. At midpoint, the floor of the tray has a hole 21 for the needle hook IE to pass through, into and out of the supply of" hairs 26 held in such tray. The needle, in its movement, catches one or more hairs at their mid region, and upon downward movement, the caught hairs 30 are pulled part way through the trays floor thI'Ollgh said hole 21, forming a fold or bight 3D in said caught hairs. This bight, upon further-downwardmovement of the hook needle 55, is passed through the work in the hole in said work left by said'needle, as is finally shown in Fig. 6.

I alsoprovide a' hook means to engage the hair strands near the bighti therein; such hook means in its'movement causing total withdrawal of the engaged hair from out of the supply tray .23. One embodiment of such hook means shown in Figs. 1 through 8, comprises the tubular member 33 whichis journalled for rotary axial movement in the bracket bearings 34 and 35 fixed on' the machinesframe i4. Fixed on said tubular member 33 is a ring gear 32. The

gears

32 and 26 are identical as to number of teeth and are in engagement with each other as shown, to give said tubular member 33 proper direction of rotation in relation to that of the main shaft IS.

The presser foot 33, instead of being on a usual straight bar, is here at the end of a bar 3? which is bent to clear the tubular member 33.

The tubular member 33, which will be shown acts as a hook, is provided for such purpose with an. opening 33 for the hook needle IE to pass through. The main shaft i9 is chosen for driving the hook member 33, because it is necessary that for each reciprocation of the said hook needle I5, which is effected by one revolution of saidshaft i9, the hook member 33 shall revolve once. The length of said opening 33 is such that it is suflicient to clear the needle while said member 33 is rotating, during needle movement.

The operator stands facing the machine in Fig. 1. This will place him facing the machine at the right in Fig. 2. The direction of rotation of the hook member 33, facing the operator, is downwardly towards the rear of the machine. The work is fed by the feeding device, rearwardly away. from the operator, who holds the work to feed it laterally for an adjacent line of stitches. For a feeding device, see for instance the MerrickiPatent No. 940,854 of January 31, 1893. The machine of this type is ordinarily equipped with the usual pedals, one to operate the machine, and the other to work the presser foot. These pedals are not shown. The member 33 is so mounted, that when the hook needle in its upward movement approaches said member 33, said needle enters the opening 38 near edge 38", and in its downward movement, said needle leaves said opening near the bight-hooking edge 38. The diameter of said hook member 33 is. made sufficiently large that its circumference minus the length of the slot 38, exceeds one half the length of the hairs in the tray 24 to such an extent that the. entire hairs hooked and pulled on by the hook-needle I5 shall be removed from the tray 24 by said member 33.

To. set the machinefor operation, the hand wheel 40 is turned until the hook needle I5 is at its lowest position as shown in Fig. 1. At such position, said needle is below the work rest 2|. The presser foot rod 31 is lifted and a piece of work as any suitable wig foundation or the dolls head shell 22 is placed between said rest 2| and the presser foot 36. The presser foot rod is then released whereupon it holds the work on the rest member 2 l. The tray 24 having been filled with a supply of; hair, fine silk. orthreadyarnsor other suitable filaments, the machine is operated. The hook needle it: will rise and pierce the work 22 making a hole therethrough, and pass up through the opening 38 in the revolving member 33, then through the hole 2'! into the mass of hairs 26 as shown in Fig. 3.

Now on downward movement of said hook needle i5, it will catch one or more hairs depending upon its hook size, and pull same by their mid-region through the hole 21' in the floor of the tray 22, forming a bight 30' in such caught hairs 3!] as is shown in Fig. 4, and thence out through the opening 38; Edge '38 of said opening 38, will engage the strands of bight 30 after the hook needle 15 has left opening 38, and due to the movement of the member 33, said caught hairs 30 will be entirely pulled out of the tray as is shown by the steps illustrated in the-Figs..5 and 6. The line-of movement of the: needle is in a plane which passes through all thefilaments in the holder 24, intermediate their ends. The needle hook in its continued downward movement will pull the bight of the caught hair 30 through the hole in the work made by the needle as is shown in Fig. 6. The-action of the swing of the member i3 commencing at the condition shown in Fig. 5, will cause the work to be shifted to next stitch position, and soonafter the needle it reaches the position shown in Fig. 6, such swing movement of the member it, will cause the hook needle to release its hold on the hairs it has caught and imbedded in the work. The needle is now again in its lowest position as in Fig. 1 and is ready to repeat the operation at the new stitch position to which the work 22 has been shifted. Imbedded hairs as M and 52' will fall or are manually pushed down oil member 33. The operation is repeated until the whole area required'is haired. 7

That in reality the action of member 33'isthat of a hook, can readily be seen in the segmental showing in Fig. 8. Regardless of the direction of rotation of such hook, it functions to remove entirely from the tray 24, those hairs caughtby the needle hook 15. A particular direction for such rotation is advantageous in that the hairs withdrawn from the tray are kept away from work region.

Instead of the member 33, a Wheel 42 may be mounted on the machine frame beyond the left hand side of the tray, and through suitable gearing, said wheel shall be driven by the main shaft [9. This wheel carries a hook 43 on a longitudinally extending shank parallel and away from the axis 45. The distance from such shank 45 to the axis 44 should be sufilcient to accomplish complete removal of the caught hairs from the tray 24 upon rotation of the wheel 42. This is shown in Fig. 9.

The same function can be accomplished by having a hook ill on a horizontal shank t8 which extends laterally from a vertical shaft 49 driven by suitable gearing (not shown) by the main shaft Hi.

If desired, more than one needle of thetype l5 may be used to plant hair through several spaced holes in the work 22 simultaneously. Such arrangement is indicated in Fig. 12, where four needles l5 are intended to be carried on one needle post. Of course in such instance corresponding holes would need be provided in the floor of the hair tray 24 and corresponding openings in the member 33. No further details of this or other suggestions herein need be given, because such adaptations are easily known without any further explanation to those versed in the machine art.

All curved arrows in the drawings, indicate direction of rotation of respective adjacent components shown.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired that the embodiments herein described shall be deemed illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being had to the following claims rather than to the specific description herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a wig-making machine of the character described, a member supporting a wig foundation, a supply of separate filaments in a holder adjacent said supporting member; said wig foundation being between said member and holder, a reciprocatable hook needle positioned for movement first in a direction towards said holder, through the wig foundation to pierce the same and thence into said holder and then in reverse direction to withdraw from said holder with filaments caught by it and to be out of said wig foundation with a portion of said caught filaments pulled through said wig foundation a comparatively short distance; a portion of said caught filaments still remaining in said holder; the line of needle movement being in a plane which passes through all the filaments in the holder intermediate their ends, a member movable in a path between the said holder and the wig foundation across the path of the needle and clear of the needle, in every instance said needle has left the holder; said movable member in motion, being adapted to completely pull out of said holder, the remaining portions of all filaments caught by the needle.

2. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1,

wherein the filaments are so positioned in the holder that the mentioned plane passes through their mid-regions whereby said filaments are caught by the hook needle at substantially their mid-regions.

3. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movable member for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder has a. rotary motion.

4. A wig-making machine as defined. in claim 1, wherein the movable member for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder has a rotary motion around the holder and the supply of filaments it carries.

5. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movable member for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder has a rotary motion in a plane adjacentthe holder which plane is substantially perpendicular to the needle.

6. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the movable member for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the holder is a hook adapted to intercept the filaments caught by the needle.

'7. A wig-making machine as defined in claim 1, wherein the holder is a tray having a hole in its wall through which the needle passes therein, the said hole being of a size permitting the needle and the filaments caught thereon to pass through upon movement of said needle out of said tray.

8. A Wig-making machine as defined in claim 7, wherein the movable member for entirely pulling the caught filaments out of the tray is a tubular member positioned about said tray and axially rotatably mounted on the machine, said tubular member having a slot around part of its peripheral surface through which the needle may pass into and out from the tray, the caught filaments being intercepted by an end of said slot, whereby on continued rotary movement of said tubular member, said caught filaments are entirely withdrawn from the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,186,534 Aldworth June 13, 1916 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 559,373 France June 14, 1923